The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-11-17
Letter from Capt. Norton.
BUCKEYE HUNTERS GAMr,
(NI A IL AL Al 10 ArIarr

BUCKEYE HUNTERS QAMr, !
GLADwIN Co., MICH, I |
FRIEND HARpIs:-I will now re-
deem my promise to write you a little
about this woods and our journey here. |
We arrived at Pineonning Nov. LIST,
there met DR.. Tidball and others from !
Garrettsville, purchased some supplies
and took s construction train Oh the
Giadwiu branch of the Michigan Cen
trail X. r. eighteen miles into the
woods. where We dumped our baggage.
Here we found q family living by the
name of Gilman; also two boarding
shanties, close beside the Titobawassa
river. This river is five to six times
larger than the Cuyahoga and more
rapid The water at its lowest is about
six feet deep in the thread of the chan
mel, and the surface about loo feet
wide. The channel and banks ara rs
smooth as q we'll used canal, from the
Junction of the Big Molasses river up
four or five miles the Titobawasss bore
on its bosom millions of p:nesaw logs,
Werth millions Of dollars. These logs
were, in some places, three to four
aeep. aud all over the river from shore
to shore. These logs had bssn dumped
into the river during the last two
years. and belong to different luiube
parties. Each log is branded ut the
IA
have credit for his logs. Thirty miles
up thetTitobawsssa, Mclasses aud TO.
bacco rivers from here, is said to be -
great level. all the rivers are dsmed
tup and the water raises from six to ten
feet, covering thousands of acres with
water, with gates to hoist and flood
these rivers, all emptying into the
TitabOwassa above this point. This ia
to drive these logs to the boOms above
Saginaw. There the boom companies
sort them, build them iuto RATS, and
drive them into the boems of the great
milling companies. We reached here
just as the great drive Of logs was to
be mase, and We took in the show,
free. They had tried to break the lam
the week before. had flooded the river
but failed to start it. They had sent
to Saginaw and to West Branch and
got an extra set of river men to make
the drive, and had opened the gate:
thirty miles above on the day we
reached here. These logs In the river
formed bridge sufficiently solid tc
cary over the artillery of the world
and yet were so soon to be q rolling
tumbling stream of logs, rapidly speed
ing on to their destination. These
powerful river men, each of whom il
An expert in the business and can rid,
a log through anything short of Mag
ara whirlpool in their kindness vol
UNFAIRLY took our ton of baggas.
across this river of logs on the evenine
of our arrival, saying to US that tn,
gates were hoisted thirty miles above
and by the following morning tn,
food would be here, We pitched ouI
tent and Il ofu slept until early morn
when We heard the sheuts and song,
of the river men, and looking, saw
that the jam was being broken. Tn,
fipod was put on for five days aDs
this mighty serpeDtiae stream of logl
ran rspidly by. What sight to be
hold T! They would form jam below
and then miles OF logs would be at res
again until the skill and daring o
| ri iyf.E
when on they went again. The worl
is done, the logs have gone to reacf
the places wsere they will be slicet
into lumber, still thousands of then
are lying high and dry on the rive
shores. and will be rolled into the rive
before another drive, which may b,
made next year.
This county is new, and much of j
is i'll the burned district, covered will
thickets of second growth and brier
and the tall, biackened spires, TIN
burned pines, The land in this par
, of the county is below medium Ii
. quality, though it would grow goo,
pstatoes, timothy and clover. con
slider it an uninviting country Their
+ is some large game here, considerable,
many deer, plenty of bear, few
wolves and cats. These thieksts AT
well stOekt d with pheasants aud larg
rabbits, of which we can kill at pleas
ure. 1t freezes a little every night
:, and the days are bright and pleasant
altogether too dry for huating. w
have seen several deer and bear, bu
none of US have had shot yet, 1t /
so noisy and the ungenerous Michl
gan game laws aud vigilant gan
wardens, make it safe to keep our dog
In camp, 1--WE are watched) The gam
warden passed our tents twice yester
day, on the cars. and was looking afte
U.S. Guess they don't want US here
The boys are all well and we are quit
courageous in camp, but the dry wealth
er, and the miserable game laws will
best US this time, think still we ar,
holding onto our grip to see what ma,
turn up. If we could only run ou
dogs two weeks we would rattle on
some deer, but the game warden il
only ten miles distant, by rail, and b,
has his spoilers after us. Confount
the luck. We will try and get SOM
of the natives to run their dogs for as
but 1 guess Buckeye hunting in Mich
igan woods is about played We will
see. s. D. N.